Ice Skating
by shiiki
Summary: Leo and ice don't really mix. Calypso doesn't care. Pure fluff.


**A/N** : How about some mid-week fluff? It's been a while since I posted a short, anyway right? Have some caleo with a teensy bit of percabeth thrown in for good measure. :) This initially started as an attempt on a percyjacksonweek2k17 prompt that failed to go in the direction I intended and ended up fulfilling a prompt for pjofluffguard ... which they never accepted in the end, but oh well. Short and total fluff, be warned!

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 **Ice Skating**

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The girls were utterly crap at ice-skating.

Well, okay, Annabeth at least had some rudimentary concept of how it was supposed to work, having been to a roller derby before, but she kept striking out like she expected wheels under her feet rather than blades, and Percy was having to skate along patiently beside her, explaining why it didn't work exactly the same way.

Leo wasn't sure if she was being slow to get it on purpose. They did look super cosy with Percy's arm around her waist, guiding her along.

Calypso, on the other hand, had absolutely no clue what she was doing. Leo was willing to bet she'd never even seen a frost on her magical paradise, let alone the modern equivalent of a frozen lake. She slid and stumbled at the edge of the rink, clutching to the rail for dear life as she tried to make it around the circle. It had taken her ten minutes just to make it halfway. When she tired of this, she tried stomping down with her skates instead, like she was tramping through her mulchy gardens.

The ice apparently didn't like being stomped on. Calypso's skates slid out from underneath her, splitting her legs into a v-shaped sprawl as she sank to the ice, arms still reaching up frantically for the rail in a vain attempt to hold herself upright.

'Leo Valdez!' she yelled at him from across the rink. 'You stop laughing at me right now!'

'How do you know I'm laughing?' he called back. 'You can't see from over there.'

'I know you are! And I'd like to see _you_ try this.'

Leo held up his hands. Wisps of steam rose from the patch on the rail where he'd been resting his arms, like the mist of warm breath on a snowy day. 'No can do, babe. Leo McSteamy's too hot for the rink to handle.'

It was a cast-iron excuse. Or better yet, a cast-celestial-bronze one. Leo was well aware that he had no more experience with ice-skating than Calypso. Houston just wasn't built for those things. Neither was a son of the fire god.

He couldn't hear what Calypso muttered under her breath, but he was willing to bet it was some variant of _'_ _I'll McKill you, Leo Valdez.'_ Possibly in ancient Minoan.

He went round the outskirts of the rink to her side of it anyway.

Percy and Annabeth skated over to Calypso and helped her up.

'Here,' said Percy encouragingly. 'You just sorta have to, uh, glide.' His eyes darted nervously to Annabeth as though gauging her reaction to his helping Calypso.

Annabeth's eyes flashed with an emotion Leo was familiar with. He felt the same uncomfortable mixture of jealousy and annoyance (not enough to actually bother him, but just enough to induce a side serving of guilt about his feelings to add to the mix) when he watched Calypso with Percy.

But it lasted only a second and then she was smiling and looping an arm through Calypso's. 'Here, look, Percy showed me. It's not that hard after all.'

Percy grinned at both of them and took Calypso's and Annabeth's hands. He started skating backwards, tugging them both forward across the ice.

'Leo, look!' In her delight actually skating at last, Calypso forgot she was mad at him. She looked like a princess, gliding over the ice as Percy and Annabeth pulled her towards the centre of the rink. Her caramel braid flew out behind her.

The uncomfortable swirl of emotions that Leo absolutely hated churned in his stomach.

Damn.

 _Okay. I'm cold. Really cold,_ he told himself.

And ignoring the fact that he was skate-less, Leo made his way onto the ice.

He didn't make it two steps before landing in an undignified tangle of limbs.

Calypso, Annabeth, and Percy skated over to him, giggling. Calypso let go of the other two and struck out bravely on her own, only to fall on her bum right by his side.

'Hey you,' she said coyly. 'Looks like you made it out here after all.'

'Looks like I did.'

He felt himself heating up as she leaned in to kiss him. Though he knew he was probably going to end up with a wet butt as the ice under his pants melted, Leo decided it was worth it.

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 **A/N** : I just realised it's also the release day of _The Burning Maze_. I haven't read (or acquired) the book yet, partly because I have two massive presentations this week and next and have to focus on that, partly because I also have a book from the library that I have to finish reading before it's due back (it's _so_ good, though, as if I needed more heart-wrenching new half-finished series to get into arggggh). And also because it will probably take a while to hit my libraries and _then_ a while before I'm no longer on hold. So ... no spoilers, please! (But I am so afraid of what is going to happen, after _Ship of the Dead._ )

Anyway, I'm not sure why I'm saying all this as it's not relevant to the fic at all. Er, right, hope that was a bit of lightheartedness before we sink back into the angst that is NoH at the moment this weekend ...


End file.
